Several members and I have "chatted" over the years about purple martins successfully nesting in gourds attached to tall Shepherd's Hooks.
I am wondering where one can purchase the tallest such hooks on the market and what height that would be. They would have to have an equally well designed base to hold them securely in the ground.
I am thinking of excellent areas for martins where the owner is unable due to age, Home Owner's Associations, cost or whatever to install a tall pole type gourd rack. Some great areas are going unused.
If it is against policy to share such addresses with me in this Forum please feel free to e-mail them or Personal Message them. Thanks!
If we could get such extra tall shepherd's hooks on the market and used maybe we could increase our martin population in this ever increasingly urban and hostile to wildlife world.
Carl
Martin Gourds on Tall Shepherd's Hooks
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Carlton
- Posts: 1959
- Joined: Tue May 17, 2005 6:42 pm
- Location: Florida/Deerfield Beach
- Martin Colony History: I moved to South Florida, from Delaware, in August of 2015.
I care for a 6 condo Sunset House as well as two Deluxe Gourd Racks, with 24 Chirpynest/Excluder gourds, along a canal in Pompano Beach, Florida.
At Quiet Waters Park, nearby in Deerfield Beach, I care for a Deluxe Gourd Rack with 12 TVG's. I also care for a Deluxe Gourd rack with 12 Excluder gourds with Modified Excluder entrances. I am substituting 6 Chirpynest boxes for 6 of the Conley II entranced gourds in 2026.
At another local park, Tradewinds Park in Coconut Creek, I care for a Trendsetter 12, 5 gourds rack with 60 Excluder gourds with Modified Excluder Entrances and 1 Deluxe Gourd Rack with 12 Troyer Vertical Gourds with Starling Stoppers over the Conley II's to keep out smaller starlings.
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Guest
Carl:
I think this is a definite possibility. I have noticed in the past that when I lower my setup because of a strong storm, the martins don't care at all about the sudden changed height.
The main thing with a lower height is effective protection from climbers, of course. I don't think I've seen shepherds hooks over six (maybe 6-1/2 or 7) feet, but I suppose one could make a base that adds some height while affording a strong, stable hold on the shepherds hook(s). This is key.
If I were making something like this I might try to get some reasonable budget shepherds hooks, cut the tops off, and make a "fountain rack" type of colony system by attaching the cut-off tops to another (reasonable height in your case) post - a fence post, perhaps.
Also, if you took four or five shepherds hooks and just fastened them together with a couple of hose clamps, you'd have a rack with that many spikes into the ground. That should be pretty stable when put in, but I'd still be a bit concerned when the Martins got all their nests and young in there. That adds quite a bit to the weight, so a rain event could make the ground soggy enough to compromise the stability of the system. I think I'd anchor some EMT* into the ground to hold the individual spikes in place securely. Or perhaps a couple of bricks would hold the system in place. A bit of experimentation would tell you that.
ideas - hopefully useful...
-Steve
* EMT is electrical conduit, not the heavy wall, threaded stuff.
I think this is a definite possibility. I have noticed in the past that when I lower my setup because of a strong storm, the martins don't care at all about the sudden changed height.
The main thing with a lower height is effective protection from climbers, of course. I don't think I've seen shepherds hooks over six (maybe 6-1/2 or 7) feet, but I suppose one could make a base that adds some height while affording a strong, stable hold on the shepherds hook(s). This is key.
If I were making something like this I might try to get some reasonable budget shepherds hooks, cut the tops off, and make a "fountain rack" type of colony system by attaching the cut-off tops to another (reasonable height in your case) post - a fence post, perhaps.
Also, if you took four or five shepherds hooks and just fastened them together with a couple of hose clamps, you'd have a rack with that many spikes into the ground. That should be pretty stable when put in, but I'd still be a bit concerned when the Martins got all their nests and young in there. That adds quite a bit to the weight, so a rain event could make the ground soggy enough to compromise the stability of the system. I think I'd anchor some EMT* into the ground to hold the individual spikes in place securely. Or perhaps a couple of bricks would hold the system in place. A bit of experimentation would tell you that.
ideas - hopefully useful...
-Steve
* EMT is electrical conduit, not the heavy wall, threaded stuff.
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Carlton
- Posts: 1959
- Joined: Tue May 17, 2005 6:42 pm
- Location: Florida/Deerfield Beach
- Martin Colony History: I moved to South Florida, from Delaware, in August of 2015.
I care for a 6 condo Sunset House as well as two Deluxe Gourd Racks, with 24 Chirpynest/Excluder gourds, along a canal in Pompano Beach, Florida.
At Quiet Waters Park, nearby in Deerfield Beach, I care for a Deluxe Gourd Rack with 12 TVG's. I also care for a Deluxe Gourd rack with 12 Excluder gourds with Modified Excluder entrances. I am substituting 6 Chirpynest boxes for 6 of the Conley II entranced gourds in 2026.
At another local park, Tradewinds Park in Coconut Creek, I care for a Trendsetter 12, 5 gourds rack with 60 Excluder gourds with Modified Excluder Entrances and 1 Deluxe Gourd Rack with 12 Troyer Vertical Gourds with Starling Stoppers over the Conley II's to keep out smaller starlings.
THANKS Steve. Food for thought. Excellent input.
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Frank Hargis-IL
- Posts: 121
- Joined: Sat Nov 15, 2003 5:22 pm
- Location: Illinois/Flora
Take a look at these. There’s two gourds on hooks. You can hardly see the second one as it’s behind the first, but we have had these up for at least four years and the martins have nested in them every year. I think these are 6’ tall. I can look in the entrance hole without standing on anything. As you can see there are guards on both and we have never had any trouble.
http://mysite.ncnetwork.net/resuijjn/Go ... ourd-1.jpg
Luck,
Frank
http://mysite.ncnetwork.net/resuijjn/Go ... ourd-1.jpg
Luck,
Frank
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Carlton
- Posts: 1959
- Joined: Tue May 17, 2005 6:42 pm
- Location: Florida/Deerfield Beach
- Martin Colony History: I moved to South Florida, from Delaware, in August of 2015.
I care for a 6 condo Sunset House as well as two Deluxe Gourd Racks, with 24 Chirpynest/Excluder gourds, along a canal in Pompano Beach, Florida.
At Quiet Waters Park, nearby in Deerfield Beach, I care for a Deluxe Gourd Rack with 12 TVG's. I also care for a Deluxe Gourd rack with 12 Excluder gourds with Modified Excluder entrances. I am substituting 6 Chirpynest boxes for 6 of the Conley II entranced gourds in 2026.
At another local park, Tradewinds Park in Coconut Creek, I care for a Trendsetter 12, 5 gourds rack with 60 Excluder gourds with Modified Excluder Entrances and 1 Deluxe Gourd Rack with 12 Troyer Vertical Gourds with Starling Stoppers over the Conley II's to keep out smaller starlings.
Those look GREAT, Frank. I find this fascinating. That appears to be a rather enclosed area too that one might think would not be too conducive to attracting martins. I am going to try one, with two natural gourds near my setup too and see what happens. I have an extra predator guard. Good experiment.
Right now I have MORE than enough housing but this is for fun to see what happens. I have no natural gourds on the regular martin poles - T.H.gourds with tunnels, Trendsetter 8 and MSS-8 modified.
Carl
Right now I have MORE than enough housing but this is for fun to see what happens. I have no natural gourds on the regular martin poles - T.H.gourds with tunnels, Trendsetter 8 and MSS-8 modified.
Carl